In a report published Friday, Jefferies & Company reiterated its Hold rating on Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. (NYSE: NAT), but slightly lowered its price target from $9.00 to $8.00.

Jefferies noted, “This morning, NAT announced that it would be paying a cash dividend of $0.16 per share on 4Q12 results which represents a significant decrease from the $0.30 per share dividend the Company had been paying out since early 2011. While the cut was inevitable in our view, the reduction will still likely remove a leg of support for NAT shares in our view.”